Southern Shifters: Stick Shifter (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

The woman looked her up and down and gave a smirk. “I’m here to meet my Will. I was sure he’d be here picking up his car. He promised me a ride today. In more ways than one, if you know what I mean.” The woman said this with a joyful glee that held just a smidge of venom.

“Well, I don’t usually discuss clients with strangers. You can wait if you’d like, but I plan on leaving soon. There are no pick-ups scheduled today.” Delaney did not want this woman hanging around her shop. As for her claim on Will, well that wasn’t something she was sure about. She really didn’t know the man that seemed so interested in her. For all she knew he was attached to this other woman somehow.

“Well, I’ll just stay if you don’t mind, of course,” the stranger purred.

D
eciding
she didn’t have much choice, she took up a casual pose against her bike with her arms crossed. If Will was seeing someone else, she’d be damned if she showed it affected her. Hopefully, he would have a good explanation when he showed up. Delaney didn’t have to wait long before she heard the rumble of a bike coming down the road.

What she had imagined didn’t do any justice to the sight before her. His strong body was encased in black leathers, and his red bike growled under him. Delaney couldn’t help her body’s response to the sexy image that pulled up next to her bike. The man had her pussy clenching just watching him slickly maneuver his ride. He looked like a hungry panther prowling towards her. It made her think of what he would look like prowling towards her in the bedroom.

Pushing the thought away, she tried to control her breathing as he kicked down the stand and leaned the bike to its side. She was coaching herself to breath normally as he pulled off his helmet. How that man didn’t have helmet hair was beyond her. Instead, he looked more delectable than she remembered.

Once he swung off his bike, he set his helmet down and pulled off his gloves. He strode over to her and gave her a smile that was brighter than the sun. His smile faded as his gaze traveled over to the woman who was trotting towards him in her heels.

“Willy! I’m so glad I caught you. I was just telling this person that I was here to get a ride from you. I didn’t think I’d be riding on your bike. This is going to be fun!”

Will couldn’t help but look at Sybil like she was insane. His cat was telling him that whatever had transpired between Sybil and Delaney was something he needed to rectify and fast.

“I don’t remember mentioning any kind of ride with you today or any day, Sybil. As you can see, I’m here to ride with Delaney today. I’m sorry you didn’t ask before showing up, but I’m clearly unavailable to you.”

Sybil flicked her gaze between Will and Delaney. She didn’t like being turned down in front of another woman.

“I could have sworn you mentioned taking me for a long ride, Will,” she said trying to sound seductive.

Will let out a snort. He folded his arms across his chest. “Sybil, when have I ever given you the impression I was interested? I’m thinking you heard about Delaney from Artie and thought you had to come over here and try to claim turf that never belonged to you. I’ll make this easy for you. See that woman over there?” he said, pointing to Delaney. “That is the woman I am interested in. I would go so far as to say that is the woman I have chosen. I would never look at another woman when I can look at her. I’m not interested in you, and I never was. We could have avoided this ugliness if you’d listened to me the first time. Now, I suggest you head back to your room and think about setting your sights on someone that can appreciate your… attributes.”

“William Klein, you’re a dick!” Sybil snarled at him.

“Maybe, but I’m honest. Try it sometime. You might get a better response from a man you’re interested in.”

Will’s dismissal made Sybil seethe. She turned and bobbled on her shoes before stomping away to her car. She slammed the door when she got inside and revved the engine. She spun out in a spray of smoke and gravel, leaving Will and Delaney staring after her.

“Well, that was enlightening,” Delaney mused. She couldn’t help but feel fan-freaking-tastic that this man had told off white trash Barbie for her. She was feeling pretty puffed up at his words.

Will moved towards her and didn’t stop until his feet were straddling her legs that were crossed at the ankles.

“Good morning, beautiful.” This was followed with him cupping her jaw and placing a closed mouth, but freaking hot, kiss on her lips.

Delaney froze when he’d started to approach. His proximity took her breath away. The kiss wasn’t even something she could have anticipated after the uncomfortable conversation with that woman. Morning kisses were for people that had been dating casually at least for a week. One day and a picnic didn’t usually qualify for kisses and cuddles territory.

When he pulled away, his smile was soft and crazy sweet.

“What the hell was that?” Delaney was trying to get her brain to kickstart. She should have smacked him or at least pretended to be offended. Sadly for her, even with a closed mouth, it was a good kiss. He smelled so good, and her mind was a big pile of cuddly bunnies. Just a fluffy happy bunch of joy in a big mound of soft furry bunnies.

“That was a good morning kiss, Monkey.” Will kept his hands on her face as he gazed into her cute confused upturned face.

“Monkey?”

“Yeah, like grease monkey. You don’t like it? I could use kitten, princess, turtledove…”

“Turtledove? What is this, eighteen fifty-three? You’re one of those nickname guys, aren’t you? You probably call your employees pal, skipper, and big guy, don’t you?”

Will paused and let his eyes tip up as he thought about it. His smile got bigger as he looked back at her. “That is only partly true. I only make up nicknames for people I like. Pretty much if I don’t like you, I’ll call you by your name formally. The arrogant aquarium guy that likes to make appointments with me to talk about algae? I call him Mr. Thompson. Never would I throw him a buddy or a slick. Nope, that dick is Mr. Thompson. You, on the other hand, are my cute little monkey. Unless it offends you. There are other names that might get thrown in occasionally. We’ll see how it goes.”

“See how it goes? How what goes?” Delaney was trying to remember her plan of making all the calls today. That was out the window. Now it seemed like she was thinking a weekend with the cute, rich tourist was looking pretty insignificant compared to what he had planned.

“Will, how do I say this without coming off like a tramp…” She took a breath and continued, “I’m cool spending time with you this week. I get all the conditions that come along with it. I’m a big girl. I’m not naïve. We can have a good time, and maybe next year when you come back, we can, uh…hook back up?”

Delaney ended her little speech with much more of a question than she had planned. Worse she expected, well, she wasn’t sure what she expected from Will. The indulgent smile was not one of the options she’d predicted. In her mind, she was going to be all casual and tell him it was totally fine to have a fling with her. She was a big girl and could go with it. He was supposed to give her a “sweet, you’re so cool. Let’s totally have a hot few nights together. I’ll go back to my ritzy life and never think of you again.” Or something like that.

“Oh, Monkey. You’re a riot. This isn’t a hookup.” He moved his hands from her face to pull her hands into his.

“It’s not?”

Bringing her hands to his mouth, he placed a kiss on the back of each hand. “Nope, I don’t do hookups. In fact, I’ve never had a one-night stand, and I’m not about to start now. Let’s go for a ride, and I’ll explain things to you.”

“You’ll explain things? This isn’t a hookup?” Delaney knew she was just parroting back to him what he was saying, but it was the best she could do.

“Delaney Jane Owens, you are a lady. You deserve better than a quick fling.”

“Really? You make a fling sound bad. I think it is a healthy way to burn off some frustration without having to, you know, pretend to be in a relationship just to get a little action.” Great, now she was making herself out to sound like a trampy backwoods slut.

Will tilted his head to the side giving her a smirk. “I’m not judging the idea of hooking up. I’m merely saying that is not what this is. I don’t plan on hooking up with you, having a fling with you, or anything else so short term. Strip you bare and make long hard love to you, yes. But that will not be a onetime event over in an evening.”

“You realize that I’m totally lost with this,” she said, urging him to see she was not on the same page as him.

“That’s okay. I can lead you in the right direction.”

His words were loaded with unsaid nuances that Delaney was sure had deeper meaning for him.

“I don’t need to be led anywhere. I’ve been managing just fine on my own for a number of years now,” Delaney said, her pride finally piping up.

“I get that. Looks to me you’ve been running your dad’s business for quite some time. Doing a good job at it too. Your personal life, well I don’t really care to know too much about that. I don’t care about the past. I only care about your future. Your time is precious to me. It’s not lost on me that you might not get my meaning. I’m telling you that I will help you understand. You aren’t a hookup, a one-night stand, or anything like it. I’m declaring right here and now that you are more important than that to me, and I’ll be treating you that way. I can’t hedge around it, and I won’t. It will make more sense to you by this evening, and we can move forward from there.”

It was Delaney’s turn to tilt her head to the side in confusion. She started shaking her head no, not that she wasn’t agreeing with him, because she didn’t understand it to say a firm no. Her shaking head was just her way of showing him that that his words were heard but not understood.

“Come on, Monkey. How about you show me what that pretty bike of yours can do?”

That earned him an affirmative head nod. He gave the tip of her nose a quick kiss then reached for her helmet. He helped her on with it even though she probably didn’t need his help. His cougar wanted to make sure the safety equipment was on appropriately, and it was something they didn’t need to worry about.

It also helped him focus on calming himself down so he could keep his attention on maneuvering his powerful machine through some very dangerous curves.

Thinking about curves made him want to groan. As he had pulled up to the shop, the vision in white leaning against her motorcycle was hands down the sexiest thing he had ever seen. It was better than any hot rod pin-up or swimsuit edition of a magazine. She was leaning casually against her white Ninja, wrapped in a white leather one piece that hugged every curve and slope of her body. The only thing that saved Will from stepping off the bike with a raging erection was the fact that the bike usually numbed out that region of his body from the vibrations.

Now that he was off the bike, he just hoped she didn’t notice he was sporting a serious hard-on. He hadn’t planned the kiss either. That was pure reaction to seeing her look so fucking amazing. His cougar and himself for that matter were proud as hell that their mate was so hot. Sure it was a little superficial, but Will guessed that no matter what his mate had looked like, he would have thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world anyway. He was just lucky she actually was.

Making sure her gloves were tight over her hands, he stepped back so she could swing her leg over her bike. She started it and revved the engine a bit before turning to him and cocking her helmeted head to the side. The visor was still open, so he could see her cute little raised eyebrow.

Giving her a dashing smile, he returned to his own ride and pulled his helmet and gloves on. He was anticipating the moment she leaned over and put her bike in gear. He was guessing it was going to be a burned in memory for him, and he didn’t want to miss it.

He was right.

Delaney kicked the bike into first and leaned over the tank to ride out to the road. The action of leaning over stretched that white leather over her ample ass, and Will was grateful he could let out the growling moan, and she couldn’t hear it. That ass was his now, and he was going to buy her leathers in every color so he’d have a rainbow of memories of that sweet ass leaning over her bike. Maybe some pictures too; he knew the best photographer in Vegas. He could just imagine a life size picture of her on the bike above their bed.

Pushing that thought aside, he flipped his visor down and started up his bike. He pulled in behind her telling her she was lead, and they revved off into the tight turns of the Dragon.

I
t had been
a while since Delaney had been on a long ride. She snickered to herself that it was just like riding a bicycle, once you got on it all came back to you in muscle memory. She kept her speed safe but still fast enough to enjoy the G’s she was pulling on the switchback turns. The sound of her motor was almost drowned out by the huge bike that was following behind her. Will was at her back, and for some reason, she liked knowing he was so close.

He probably wanted to take the drive a lot faster, but Delaney knew the dangers of the road and kept it reasonable. They drove out to the dam and parked their bikes. Pulling off her helmet, she immediately tried to smooth down any flyaways.

She saw that Will still looked model perfect when his helmet came off.

“You want to take the lead on the way out?” she asked, trying to be gracious and share a little.

“And miss the chance to stare at your ass? No, thank you.” He settled his helmet on his seat.

“I’m going to assume you’re joking because your eyes should have been on the road,” she scoffed.

“Nope, I figured following your curves were just as safe as watching the road.” He moved around his bike towards her.

Delaney saw him walking, but her brain was telling her that it wasn’t so casual. The man stalked; it was a graceful rolling gait that seemed to move him wherever he went. It was mesmerizing, and she had to swallow past the lump in her throat.

She braced herself as he got closer, then stopped breathing as he moved somehow even farther into her personal space. Delaney was at least half expecting the kiss that came her way. Those hands warm from his gloves scooped around her neck and pulled her towards his mouth.

This time, it wasn’t a sweet but sexy good morning kiss. This time, it was an open mouth, breath sucking kiss that had her melting against his chest. She felt his arms pull her tighter towards him as his hands tilted her head one direction then the other as he devoured her mouth. His tongue was tangling up against hers, and he tasted so freaking amazing.

Hands down it was the best kiss she’d ever had. And lucky for her it wasn’t a short one. Every minute or so, he would push her a fraction of an inch away so they both could suck in panting breaths before his mouth crashed back down on hers. She could feel the hard length of him against her, and she couldn’t resist rubbing up against it like a needy cat seeking attention.

“Monkey, that’s going to get you into serious trouble,” he growled against her mouth.

Delany knew she was playing with fire when she flexed her hips against his again. “Maybe I like trouble,” she whispered back at him.

“Depends if you can handle the consequences of teasing the beast.” He moved his lips to whisper into her ear.

Delaney let out a delicate snort. “Consequences? I doubt there is much you could throw at me that I couldn’t handle.”

Will’s cougar rose up at that challenge. Keeping his mouth near her ear, he said, “I guess that depends on how much you want to handle. What type of woman are you, Delaney? Tell me straight. Do you like to be wooed and coddled, petted and pampered? Or do you prefer a more direct approach? Like I have a plan to see you naked within the next few hours. I want to drive you into the woods, find somewhere quiet and strip you down until not one inch of that creamy flesh is covered. Then I want to spread your legs and eat your sweet pussy until you are screaming my name into the trees. Then I’m going to flip you over and fuck that sweet pussy as you ram your ass back into me begging me for more. I’ll give it to you, baby, have no doubt. I’ll give you every orgasm I think you can take. When you are begging to be done and thinking that you can’t come even one more time, I’m going to make you give me two more. Then I’ll let you rest, but just so I can coddle and pamper you before I fuck you again.”

This speech delivered against the sensitive shell of her ear had her pussy clenching and soaking through her panties. Her leathers were going to carry the scent of her arousal for the rest of the day.

Will’s cougar smelled it too, and he sucked in the delicate scent. With eyes that had gone from golden to glowing, he pulled back to look at her. He heard her gasp at his eyes but continued. “I can smell you, Delaney. I smell how much you want me. I bet that hot pussy is clenching over and over thinking about my cock pounding into you. That’s just what I want it to do. I want it to crave me. I want you to think nonstop about the pleasure I can give you. I’ll never deny you my cock, my mouth, or my hands. You want to come when we are out to dinner? I’ll drag you to the bathroom. We are at the top of a Ferris wheel, and you need to come, I’ll finger you while I kiss you to swallow your screams. I’m in charge of your pleasure now. You don’t understand right now, but I own that pussy like I own your heart. I’ll take care of both of them, I promise.” Will didn’t bother making his cat retreat; he wanted her to see his eyes and start to question things.

Delaney’s brain was telling her to run from the man with the freaky glowing eyes. Her pussy was saying
shut up, bitch,
he wants to give you multiple orgasms. Her pussy always was very loud and demanding.

“What are you?” she whispered up to him.

“Easy answer, I’m yours. Today, tomorrow, and the day after. I’m yours, Delaney Jane. Just like you are mine. You can see I’m not like other men. I can’t pretend to be. I’ll explain everything to you and answer any questions you have. Just not here. I want to tell you who I am and what our future is after I’ve made love to you. Then you are going to promise to be mine forever, and we are going to live a long happy life together in Vegas.”

This was said as a foregone conclusion and Delaney wanted to disagree with him, but arguing with him right now didn’t seem like the best use of her time. She was pretty sure he’d just smile and keep saying what he wanted.

The yellow glowing eyes were not human, of that she was certain. She took a moment to evaluate how she was feeling. Her instincts were saying run, but she wasn’t afraid. They were also telling her to run because the minute she gave this man the okay, her life was going to be out of her hands.

Would that be so bad? Having a man take care of her? She knew she could take care of herself; she’d been doing it for years. Taking care of her father and the business, well, to be honest, it was exhausting. She hadn’t had a break since she took her first shop class in junior high. She’d never had a vacation, never done anything life changing, or been anywhere interesting beyond her small world. Would it be wrong to take this man up on whatever he was offering for as long as he offered it? Did that make her a gold digger?

The weird eyes, well she’d grown up in the Appalachian Mountains. There were all sorts of stories that people had been telling for generations. Many dating back to immigrants coming over from Scotland and settling in the Mountains. Boogeymans, skinwalkers, and the like were common stories. Delaney wouldn’t say she was a firm believer, but hearing them all her life, she didn’t necessarily refute them either. There were plenty of things in the world she couldn’t explain.

“Are you making me promises that you think you are going to keep or know you are going to keep?” Her sensitive girly side that she usually kept hidden under her tough mechanic attitude suddenly pushed its way to the front of her mind.

Will didn’t seem put off by the question. Considering his bold declarations, she would have been surprised if he did.

“Oh, I never break a promise, Monkey. I mean everything I say.”

“You don’t know me,” she warned.

“You don’t know me, either. But here we are very sexually attracted to each other. I know you feel a pull to me that you’ve never felt before. Times that by ten and you are getting close to what I’m feeling. It’s not that I just want you, Delaney. It’s that I have to have you. All of you, body, mind, and soul. I won’t be able to leave here without you. I don’t care what problems you might think we can’t overcome, but I assure, I can fix all of them in a blink of an eye.”

“Like how you got your bike here?” she asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

“I won’t lie, having money solves a number of problems.”

“I bet it does. Am I a problem for you to solve? Do you think you are rescuing me from something?” Delaney couldn’t help the sharp tone that came out.

It was Will’s turn to let out a snort. “You don’t need rescuing. Delaney Owens would make a perfectly fine life for herself here. You’d probably find a nice townie to marry, make little townie babies, and end up sitting on your front porch yelling at your grandkids. Nobody needs to rescue you from anything.”

“Then what is your deal? Why the big declarations of ownership and sexy talk?”

“I said your life would be perfectly fine. I intend your life to be bigger than that. In my scenario, you marry me, have my babies, and yell at our grandchildren from the front porch. But before that, we will travel and see the world. I will show you things you’ve never imagined. I will give you anything you want or need. If you don’t want me to do it for you, I will be right by your side removing any obstacles that impede you from getting what you want for yourself. You can work, stay home, or start your own business. Raise llamas for all I care. Whatever makes you happy. The second I laid eyes on you, your happiness became my only goal.”

Delaney couldn’t help but shake her head at the crazy man again. His explanation of not rescuing her helped. She was warring with the idea that she needed any help from anyone. But even though he said it in a totally bossy way, it still sounded sweet his offer to help her if she wanted to do something on her own. But kids? Marriage?

“I think I need to get back on my bike before you make my brain so mushy I can’t ride,” she said, attempting to take a step back from him. She didn’t get far; his hands tightened on her.

“We can ride, but I changed my mind. I’ll take lead. I found a pretty spot I want to show you,” he said, the glow in his eyes seeming to fade as she watched.

“Why, so we can get naked in the woods? I’ll have you know that I am not about to get all bit to hell by bugs just so you can get some tail.”

“I have bug spray,” he said, like that was a simple answer.

“Where? Up your bum?”

“Nope, not into that. Would you be surprised if I told you I might have stashed some supplies last night in said pretty spot?”

“No, I’m not surprised in the least. Things come easy for you don’t they, William Klein?”

“Depends on how much of a fight you put up. Normally yes, they do. If you want to give me a run for my money, it will just make the catch that much sweeter. But I will catch you, Monkey. I will have you. Best come to terms with that. If that’s scary, it’s okay. But it doesn’t change the fact that you’re mine.”

Delaney saw that glow come back into his eye at the word
mine
. Curiosity was making her skin crawl wanting to know why his eyes did that. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer, but the simple fact was she had to find out. Letting this man leave without finding out would drive her mad. Of course, him actually leaving without her seemed to be out of the realm of possibility. She’d never seen any man act the way he did towards her. It was forceful and demanding. But not mean. Instead of wanting to lash out at him, she felt like preening under the attention. What was with that? She felt pretty and sexy when he got all growly.

“I’m not going to answer that yet. Let’s just ride,” she suggested.

“You’re the boss.” He reached around her for her helmet.

Delaney was pretty sure that if she stuck with him, he’d always say that. But it wouldn’t exactly be true. There was something so masculine and domineering about him that he could maneuver her into always thinking she was in charge when he was pulling the strings the whole time. She figured that was kind of any relationship. Usually, it was a trade-off of who got to lead and whose turn it was to follow. There was a good chance Will could keep up the charade for years that this was all her idea. In fact, she was starting to not even question his advances. That also might be because her brain had somehow slipped down her spinal column and was now resting in her pelvic region.

She’d never been so horny in her whole life. The smell of Will, the glow of his eyes, and damn that man could talk sexy like nobody’s business. Delaney Jane knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she gave him the chance William Klein could talk her into an orgasm without ever laying a finger on her.